


Substitution

by voleuse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-04-26
Updated: 2004-04-26
Packaged: 2017-10-08 17:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone mourns in a different way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Substitution

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Chosen.

  
When Susannah, one of the new slayers, asked if she could visit her family in America, Dawn asked the Council if she could tag along. Under the circumstances, they even offered to pay for the airfare.  


Instead of accompanying Susannah to Baltimore, however, Dawn opted to spend the week sightseeing in Washington, D.C. Although she'd visited most of the capitals in Western Europe, as well as several in Asia, she hadn't yet visited the capital of her own country yet, and she thought it might be educational.  


The first morning, she decided to act like the traditional tourist. After checking off the various Smithsonians she wanted to visit (Natural History and African Art were at the top of the list), she made the rounds of the presidential monuments.  


When she finally arrived at the Jefferson Memorial, Riley was sitting on a park bench, eating an apple and watching the tourists across the way. She stuttered to a halt.  


"This is too _X-Files_," she pronounced, in greeting. Riley looked up, puzzled for a minute before recognition crossed his face, and he stood.  


"Dawn?" She watched him take in her suit, the chignon, and the briefcase she had taken to carrying around. "When did you grow up?"  


_When Glory bled me_, she was tempted to answer, or _Four months ago, when Buffy died, again_, but she decided against it. Looking into his eyes, Dawn thought Riley looked so innocent, despite their age difference, and she didn't want to rob him of his delusion yet. Instead, she smiled and shrugged.  


"Dunno," she replied. "Somewhere between high school and now, I guess."  


Riley gestured for Dawn to join him, and sat down as she did. "You're in college now?"  


"Yup." Part of her balked at small talk, but part of her clung to it. A little bit of routine. "Watcher U. Heavy on the independent study, but light on the frat guys sacrificing me to demons."  


"You're a Watcher?" She could hear the capital "W" in his voice, and when he grinned, she was able to return the gesture.  


"Not quite," she admitted. "Right now I'm more a consultant than anything else. I'm good with languages."  


"Like Spanish and French?" He nodded. "I guess they could use good diplomats."  


"Kind of," Dawn corrected. "But more like translating. Like, Sumerian and Mayan hieroglyphics."  


Riley's eyes widened. "Wow." He stuck his forgotten apple core into his lunchbag, balled it all up, and tossed it at the wastebasket across the path. Dawn applauded half-heartedly as the paper swished in, but he didn't notice her lack of fervor. "Thanks."  


She smiled wanly.  


"So, what're you doing here in D.C.?"  


"Taking some time off." She fiddled with the clasp of her briefcase. "One of the slayers wanted to visit her family in Baltimore, and I thought it would be a nice vacation."  


"Cool." Riley smiled again, and she marveled at the ease of it. "I heard about the slayer spell thing."  


Then the dreaded question came.  


"Is Buffy with you?"  


Dawn couldn't even shake her head. The familiar tears filled her eyes, and she watched as knowledge, and pain, flooded Riley.  
"She--"  


Dawn managed to nod, and Riley inhaled harshly and bent, clutching his head in his hands. She heard him stifle a sob.  


They stayed like that for several minutes, then Riley took a deep breath and looked at his watch. "I have to get back to work," he mumbled. His eyes were red, but dry. "Can I buy you a drink later?"  


Dawn nodded again, and he named a time, a place, and an address.  


She smiled thinly as he walked away, and sat there for the rest of the afternoon.  


*

  
The bar he named was dark, and on the right side of seedy. Dawn arrived there an hour early, having nowhere else to go, really. She asked for a table and ordered a strawberry margarita, her ID in hand. After checking to make sure she was legal, the waiter winked at her, and she asked for a swirl of lime in her drink, as well.  


By the time Riley arrived, she was halfway through a basket of mozzarella sticks (and that's what they were called, she decided, no matter what the weird East coast menu said) and a strawberry margarita, a Kahlua mudslide, and an amaretto sour down.  


"Am I late?" he asked, a frown creasing his forehead.  


Dawn shook her head. "I'm early." She grinned as the waiter arrived with a plate of hot wings, a fuzzy navel, and a pitcher of beer. "I ordered for you. You like this beer, right?"  


"Sure." Riley stared at her for a second, then sat down and poured himself a mug. "Are you drunk?"  


"Tipsy." Dawn sipped at her drink, licked the corners of her lips. "I was waiting for you to get here."  


Riley waved the waiter over and ordered something expensive-sounding. Dawn looked at him, eyebrows raised. Riley shrugged. "I've got some catching up to do. I'll need more than beer," he explained. He peered at her drink. "You _are_ legal, right?"  


Dawn stuck her tongue out, and took a gulp of her drink.  


*

  
They ended up getting kicked out of the bar at closing time, giggling as they leaned against each other.  


Riley hailed a taxi, opting to leave his sedan in the parking lot, and Dawn directed the driver to her hotel room.  


Gentlemanly even when intoxicated, Riley walked her to her room, and bidding her goodnight, he bent and kissed her on the forehead, then, after a second of hesitation, on the lips.  


A rush of warmth went through her, and she grabbed his shoulders, kissed him back.  


They stumbled into the room, and Dawn kicked the door shut.  


*

  
In the morning, Dawn woke to the sound of the shower running, and a jackhammer of a headache pounding between her eyes. Blindly, she picked up the phone and punched the button for room service. She ordered every aspirin they had available, a bottle of hot sauce, a raw egg, sea salt, and a sprig of rosemary, and hung up.  


She wondered if she was mixing up the Andrew's recipe for curing hangovers with Willow's spell of the same purpose.  


Probably.  


Riley emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam and an aura of self-loathing.  


She squinted at him for a second, then remembered something about up against a wall, then clutching the headboard, and decided he was feeling guilty for something sex-related. "Don't worry about it," she muttered, hiding her head under a pillow.  


"Dawn." Riley sat on the bed and pulled the pillow away from Dawn, ignoring her groan. "What we did last night--"  


"Was stupid." She grabbed the pillow back and sat up, using it as a shield. "I know."  


"I shouldn't have used you like that," he said. "I took advantage of you, and if Buffy--"  


"If she was alive," Dawn interrupted, "she would kick your ass all the way to California. You're right." She brushed her hair out of her eyes and wished room service would hurry it up.  


Riley sighed. "I'm sorry."  


Dawn reached out, touched his hand. "So am I."  


The alarm clock went off, and Riley started. Looked at the time. "Shit."  


Dawn managed to smile. "Late for work?"  


"Yeah." He was already pulling on his clothes. "Sorry. Again."  


"No problem."  


Dressed in record time, he paused before heading for the door. "Can I buy you dinner tonight? So we can talk? _Really_ talk," he clarified.  


Dawn nodded. "Sure."  


"Tonight?"  


"You know where to find me."  


Riley hesitated at the door, then smiled. Closed the door behind him.  


Dawn flopped back into bed and stared at the ceiling.  


Thought about Buffy, and waited for the tears to come.  


They didn't.  


When room service came, Dawn pulled on a robe and opened the door with a smile. "Good morning," she said.  


For the first time in a long while, she meant it.


End file.
